Texas - Hwy 77

Has anyone ridden Hwy 77 south from Robstown to Riviera,TX.

prospective route (http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/robstown/247126579269776577)

The wife wants the Kids to drop us off with the bikes so we can ride to the inlaw's beach house on or around March 15th.

So is 77 going to be insane the week of the 15th?
Or does spring break officially start later?

Total miles 45.34 mostly gentle downhill (according to the elevation on MMR)
This should be easy for me, but definitely groundbreaking for her.

I'll need the address for the beach house to fully answer your question:D

I have a friend in Kingsville I can ask about the road, shoulders, and usual Spring Break traffic.

I don't really anticipate horrible conditions as it probably has good shoulders if needed. It's pretty much a long straight shot.
I have been warned away from some of the FM roads as the Bro in law says that drivers are even more insane than usual on them along with the lack of shoulders. I would probably take my chances, but the spousal unit is just getting started on the roads as opposed to paths.

I think the elevation change will be completely negligible. However, you may have prevailing winds, in which case, it would be handy to be able to reverse the course if necessary.

It seems like Kingsville had a pretty decent tourist bureau, and they might could be helpful. I've driven through it, and remember the main road being 4 lane, but don't remember shoulders, etc.

Go to Google maps, use the "Street View" to see what the roads look like. It won't tell you what traffic is like, but you can get an idea.

On part of that route, you're parallelling some county roads, and if they are paved, they would be a good alternative.

Also see this thread:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?493475-The-Duval-Delta-(photos)

I think I also drove out through where it says "Chapman Ranch", FM 70 and Co. Rd 8. That was very desolate (farmland, as I recall), very open land where you could potentially catch a LOT of breeze.

Another thought: Spring-Break college kids probably aren't up at 7:00 AM.

There are a couple of organized rides in the area, and you might look up their routes.
http://www.kingsvillenoonlions.org/index_files/Page904.htm
http://kingsvillenoonlions.org/Maps.pdf
http://www.conquerthecoast.org/maps.php

I'd already looked at rides on MMR and found a lot of them going from Kingsville to Riviera on 77.
I was interested to see if any of the TX Forum readers may be one of those riders and if they could give me first hand impressions.

Thanks for the idea of google maps...I use the street view locally....don't know why I didn't think of using it in this instance.

i have a hunting lease near kingsville and 77 can get pretty congested for spring breakers

Hopefully, riding during the weekday will help with the spring break drivers. Perhaps riding in the mornings will have most of the drinkers sleeping it off.

I've taken a look at some of the CO and FM roads on Google and may have a back up route, just in case.
77 looks to have pretty wide shoulders that seem to be in good shape until getting past Riviera. Our turn-off for the Beach house is before Riviera, so we'll see.
The FM and CO roads look pretty rough with no shoulders and street view showed at least a couple speed limit signs for 70 mph on them.:twitchy:

BE careful on those CO roads!

BE careful on those CO roads!

Yep...that's why the Brother in law recommended 77 and the shoulder.

Just got back from Riviera TX.
Didn't ride as planned...Sunday was taken up with trip preparations.
As I was driving, I noticed 77 wouldn't have been a good idea until after Kingsville where it looked OK at least until our turn-off on 628.
I actually spotted a couple of cyclists on 77 south of Kingsville.
Some of the county roads (628 for instance) are absolutely NUTZ! Two-lane-no-shoulder-70mph rocket tubes....the best I could say for them were that they were very straight, with looooong sight-lines.
I DID get a couple rides in with the wife, though......short and slow.....but rides nonetheless. The temps were perfect, the wildflowers were beautiful, the breezes not too strong (for me anyway. Sue called the daughter for SAG services while I got to ride at my own speed for the last 4.5 miles)...all in all a nice stay.
I may wind up going back sometime to do a nice flat century...especially if I can plan it so the wind is at my back for the return.